Saints quarterback Drew Brees, whose initial statement regarding the Saints’ bounty system provided somewhat of a safe harbor by denying knowledge of the “real existence” of a bounty system, has since taken a more unequivocal stance.

Brees said last week that “what we’ve been accused of in regards to pay for injury is not the case.” On Monday, after attending a meeting between NFLPA representatives and the NFL, Brees explained that the league has not yet shown that a bounty system existed.“We didn’t get any meaningful evidence, or any meaningful truth or facts,” Brees said, according to Albert Breer of NFL Network.

Many fans have responded to Brees’ claims with a high degree of skepticism, given that he has a clear and direct interest in proving that there was no bounty system. Not only would such a finding ensure that the Saints will have a full complement of defensive leaders like linebacker Jonathan Vilma in 2012, but it also would block the application of an unofficial asterisk to the team’s Super Bowl win in 2009.For that reason, the NFLPA should have considered keeping Brees and former Saints linebacker Scott Fujita away from the process of negotiating with the NFL — or at a minimum away from becoming the face or voice of the union’s position. Indeed, having Brees address the effort on behalf of all players potentially undermines the NFLPA’s position by tying it to the Saints’ obvious, knee-jerk interest in minimizing the punishment and/or the stigma.

To the extent that the NFLPA hopes to separate Brees’ role as a member of the Saints and his involvement in the talks as a member of the NFLPA Executive Committee, new NFLPA president Domonique Foxworth wasn’t as convincing as he could have been. “It’s mostly coincidental that Drew and Scott are here, they’re also Executive Committee members, so they’re here to serve their duties as executive committee members, not necessarily as members of the Saints,” Foxworth said, per Breer. “Obviously Drew is, and Scott was a member of the Saints, that’s true. But their capacity here is as Executive Committee members.”Thus, Brees, the Saints, and the NFLPA would be better off by making the lines even more clear, allowing Brees to avoid an obvious conflict of interest arising from his desire to keep his team competitive and his Super Bowl ring legitimate, and his duty to protect the players who were targeted by any bounties.As a result, the best players to involve in the discussions between the union and the league would be men who were actually in the crosshairs of former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, like Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, 49ers running backFrank Gore, 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree, and/or 49ers receive Kyle Williams. If/when one of those men declares publicly that there’s no evidence of a bounty system, fans will regard their words with a far greater degree of credibility.http://profootballta...ce-of-bounties/

Is this guy a total idiot? Is he this damn self-righteous? Thanks for sticking up for player safety, Brees.

I have always hated the saints* but I always hated them solely because they were division rivals. Their players were generally classy... how can you hate Drew Brees, right?

Lots of people have probably felt the same way, but Brees is really showing his true colors on all this. Fake-ass swamp rat. Here's to Cam pissing in their swamp cheerios for the next decade and a half.

Not through retribution and not because I want it to happen...but I see Brees getting hurt this year. Karma has a way of dealing with liars and total idiots...."No meaningful evidence...?", dude, do your ears work? Can you hear, do you read the internet, do you watch TV, have you spoken to anyone on your team? I wouldn't play this year if I were him just because of how much he has tempted fate with some of the dumbest comments I have heard since Randy Moss.

He's taking the deny,deny,deny even after being caught approach. Kind of like a cheating husband...no baby we were just wrestling and it got hot, so we took our clothes off! Brees is stuck..Union one one side and his team on the other, he'll play dumb till he can't!